Taking a leaf out of Merkel's book, another German is trying to influence the French elections..

Last week I received a phone call by my collaborating artist and previous supervisor Maurice_Benayoun that there is interest to show a customized version of our project Emotion-Forecast during the final stages of the presidential election campaign for François_Hollande.

My first reply was: “I'm not interested in political statements. Yet the project is free-software, everyone can use and customize it for their needs.”

As citizen of the European-Internet, I am not allowed to vote in France - so here's my change to take some influence nonetheless. While I can't say that I'd vote for Mr. Hollande, I am certain that I don't want to continue living in a country ruled by Sarkozy. Decision-making by exclusion, fine.

So I spent a few hours hacking - which is fun anyway - and a few hours carefully translating English into French.. et voila. La prévisualisation est disponible en ligne.

I'm still undecided what I'd actually vote on next Sunday. Pretty much both options seem like dead-ends to me. Still, I'm happy that people's emotional-concerns are included in an election campaign, which otherwise is pretty much focused on the economic situation: jobs, taxes, dept-crisis,.. sprinkled of immigration and security concerns.

Even though this “emotional weather forecast” will likely be presented out of context of our initial intention, I very much welcome the opportunity that it may inspire some people at least.

The Conference Schedule has just been published and I'm eager to visit CCRMA which has been a supporting institution of Linux Audio ever since there has been any sound on GNU/Linux.

Besides reuniting with fellow LADs and meeting creative people from various fields, I'm looking forward to experience the 3D 22 channel sound system with speakers above, around and below the audience level in the CCRMA Listening Room.

Streaming Museum, an international public art and online museum, will celebrate its fourth anniversary on January 31 with the US premiere of ”Emotion Forecast” and ”Occupy Wall Screens”, real-time artworks by the renowned French artist Maurice Benayoun. The exhibition will be on view for one month at Big Screen Plaza in New York City and through 2012 at StreamingMuseum.org.

“Emotion Forecast” and “Occupy Wall Screens” are part of Maurice Benayoun's ongoing series on the “Mechanics of Emotions” which translate emotions into maps, performances, the Emotion Vending Machine, and sculpture relics of the world.

The artworks have been developed by Robin Gareus, at the CiTu-Paragraphe Lab of the University Paris 8, in the frame of The Art Collider project as a part of the PUF program of the FACE Foundation in collaboration with the SFAI (San Francisco Art Institute).

Streaming Museum is the first global public space and online hybrid museum with collaborating locations and cultural centers on 7 continents. The 30 x 16.5 ft. HD format screen of Big Screen Plaza is located at 29th Street and 6th Avenue, adjacent to the Eventi Hotel.

The intent of both pieces of legislation is to combat online piracy. The problem is that the legislation, as written, is vague and overly-broad. The intention may be good and justified, but the implementation would be nothing short of legal censorship and discrimination.

It'd grant the executive the power to simply shut down information sources. In fact, if the law passes, it would not even require a court order to ban a service! A simple note would suffices to censor information, unless the provider of the content can prove and assure (monitor) that his/her site does not facilitate the commission of criminal violations.

There are times that everyday reasonable activities can be construed as piracy, but the actual problematic word is facilitating, as it opens the door to condemning sites that simply link to other sites.

Since the USA directly or indirectly controls most of the internet's infrastructure, and the proposed legislation has been written in a manner in which they specifically take into account “foreign rogue sites”, the legislation will, should it pass, have an impact upon the world as a whole.

These acts could have a significant impact on the way in which we currently use the internet: Free Speech is only as strong as the weakest link.

Thanks to many activist sites (see links above and below) this is easy. If you are US resident, complain at your senator(s). If you are elsewhere, there are local efforts: e.g. join contacting the German minister of foreign-affairs who is supporting the law in the US!

Note that, Europe with the upcoming ACTA law is not too far behind. Act now!